


He's been right next to me the entire time

by hunterholly



Series: My Renga Fics :) (completely different) [2]
Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kyan Reki In Love, Kyan Reki is a Ray of Sunshine, M/M, Minor Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Miya shows up eventually, No Smut, Oblivious Hasegawa Langa, POV Kyan Reki, POV Male Character, Skateboarding, Soft Hasegawa Langa, Soft Kyan Reki, Soulmates, mentions of adam, references, renga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-21 17:42:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30025473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunterholly/pseuds/hunterholly
Summary: Reki's always been far to obsessed with skating to bother about trying to find his soulmate. Most 'love' was pointless to him - he'd much rather be free in the streets, board in hand with his  best friend.Snowboarding and school took up all of Langa's freetime. There was no point in finding his soulmate if he was so focused on these things. And then, he suddenly has all the time in the world (save from skating) to search for the person when he moves to Okinawa.So when Langa meets Reki and begins to skate with him, maybe, just maybe, this would point to the mysterious identity of what people name a 'soulmate'.{Soulmate AU}
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa & Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Series: My Renga Fics :) (completely different) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2209878
Comments: 9
Kudos: 86
Collections: Soulmate AU, sk8 fan fics





	1. To you, a year ago

"Mom... what's on my arm?" A curious 6 year old Reki groans, pointing at his wrist. His mom walks over to him, examining her childs arm. 

She smiles softly before repeating the words that every parent has to say at one point - "That's your soulmate's drawing, sweetheart. Everyone has a soulmate! Whatever you draw on your skin will appear on your soulmates." 

Reki listens in fascination at his mother's explanation, biting his thumb. "So, if I draw on my hand, will my soulmate see it?" He questions, placing himself on the hard tatami mat of their house.

His mother smiles, taking a seat next to him. "Yep! Do you want me to go get your Dad? We can show you!" She asks.

"Yes! Yes!" The redhead grins, nodding his head enthusiastically. His mother gets up off the floor and leaves the room briefly, only to return with his father - pen in hand. Gently, the ink draws across her skin on the back of her hand. Reki watches as on his fathers hand, the same heart appears. His eyes twinkle in awe - this was so cool.

-: ✧ :-

"Hey, Reki, what's on your face?" His friend, Mikumo, asks while jumping off his skateboard. 8-year-old Reki stops himself and self consciously puts a hand upto his face.

"What's on there?" He questions, removing his hand to let Mikumo see. The other boy glances at it before smiling.

"It's a star!" He exclaims, rolling the board along the floor with his foot, "I think it's a soulmate drawing if you didn't draw it!" Reki nods along to his words, grinning. 

"Well, if its not bad, I'll keep it on my face." He says, popping the tail of his board. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small biro that he kept in his pocket and sketches a small smily face on his wrist.

Maybe his soulmate would draw one back.

-: ✧ :-

His headphones in his ears, living life at 10 was good for Reki. He's gotten pretty good at skating, decent at art and his grades were good. He's currently on the roof of his school, practicing making his ollies higher. Although he's alone, he's having alot of fun with the music playing through his ears. The rush of skateboarding couldn't be compared to anything nearly as good, it just wasn't in Reki's heart. The adrenaline flowing through his veins when he landed his first kickflip back a year ago was surreal. He feels like he can fly, and he is now, flying on his skateboard... and then falling off from placing his feet incorrect.

Over the sound of his music blaring in his ears, the echo of the bell rings through his head. He sighs, picking up his board and staring right down at his scraped knee. Reki stomps down the stairs and slumps back in his chair in his math class, skateboard under his feet that he's holding himself back from trying to move it. 

As his math teacher lectures him and his classmates about something that's probably useless, he puts his head down on his desk. Reki drowns out the inaudible voices of the nonsense of whatever 'basic algebra' was. All he wants to skate. 

"..ki! Reki!" He hears his classmate hiss to him and he jolts right up. His classmate points at the teacher where she looks at him sternly.

"Come on Reki, try to listen." She says, turning around to write the answer on the whiteboard. He's so bored - he mindlessly starts to doodle on his hand and before he knows it he's drawn some monster looking creature. An idea pops up in his head and he draws an oval around it, turning it into a deck design. Smiling to himself quietly, he tries his hardest to pay attention.

-: ✧ :-

Somewhere in Canada, a bluehaired kid smiles at the small monster design on the back of his palm. It's cute. He draws the back of his snowboard right above it - a simple snowy sketch.

-: ✧ :-

"Happy 12th birthday Reki!" his family shout in unison as the newly aged teenager comes down the stairs to get his breakfast. He smiles at the gifts wrapped on the table.

"Thank you!" He spots the one that looks suspiciously like a new skateboard and the other really small, skinny package. He points curiously at the smaller one and his father nods. His fingers dig into the wrapping paper as he pulls out a small piece of paper.

 _'Tony Hawk's Live Skating Event'_ is what it reads, and at the speed of light Reki's face lights up in joy, wrapping his arms right around his father and then his mother, exclaiming various thank yous. With a glass of strawberry milk in his hand, he unwraps the various other gifts: a new beanie, a hoodie or two, a brand new pair of skate shows which he's very grateful for since his current ones are wrecked of holes, Shoe Goo and duct tape and finally a brand new customizable board with a plain deck.

He spins the deck around in his hand, its completely plain and theres money in the present too - presumably to buy griptape, wheels, trucks and whatever else he needed. Stuffing his toast into his mouth, he thanks his family yet again and runs into his room to get dressed for school. Shoving on one of his brand shiny-new hoodies and a pair of ripped jeans, he slots his blue headband in its rightful place and heads out the door, jumping on his skateboard almost immediately.

As he ollies over the curb infront of him, he soon pulls over at his school. Reki slots his board into the straps of his backpack and walks into class where a few happy birthdays can be heard. He's sitting in his art class, sketching ideas for his new board in the back when he comes up with an idea. Clicking his pen, he writes on his hand _'It's my birthday today :)'._

Almost instantly he spots the ink under it appearing, it's from his soulmate.

 _'Happy birthday! I hope u have a good day.'_ Reki instantly grins at this, scribbling underneath it.

 _'Thx! Never asked 4 ur name.'_ He replies back, waiting eagerly for the response.

 _'Lan-'_ it begins and nothing follows. Reki frowns at this. Maybe their pen ran out? It's happened plenty of times when Reki's trying to write an important essay. Atleast now he has the first three letters of his soulmate's name. He shrugs it off and stares out the window and into the distance. Somewhere in his daydreaming, he swears that he can see a notebook drop down from the sky. He doesn't pay attention to the rest of his class - he's just staring out the window thinking about what his soulmates name could be.

When Reki gets home, he starts working on his board as quick as he can.

-: ✧ :-

_"Crap._ My pen ran out." was muttered under a certain Canadian's breath a few hours ago, clicking his tongue.

-: ✧ :-

"Woah, woah, woah! Move outta the way!" Reki yells, his skateboard aiming right towards his principals ankles. He doesn't notice and it slams right into him. The principal hisses and him, yelling for him to not be so dangerous onsite. Reki slumps and begins to talk back, saying that he did warn him but all the principal does is give him a detention. These stupid teachers didn't know anything about how unfair it was being 14. Too young to do anything completely and too old to join in with the kid activities. He groans, heavy feet stalking their way to detention.

-: ✧ :-

At 16, Reki didn't have any friends. Well, he technically did, but they were more classmates then friends who would skate with him. They all got tired of skating, skating, skating and wanted to focus on their grades. He's currently at an abandoned skatepark, and for the umpteenth time in his life, he's hurt himself. The light hits his eyes like he's just woken up from a year long nap. Reki can't see anything and then he's falling, falling, falling-

He doesn't know what to do right now - he's about ten billion percent sure that he's broken his leg and is now sitting there, humming through the pain. Theres nothing around him to grab on to to help him up and his skateboard has rolled away to the other side of the ramp. His phone is with his other stuff which, sadly, is also nowhere near him.

Reki sighs heavily. He has no clue what to do. What if he just gets stuck here, leg injured, most likely broken? What if nobody comes to find him and he gets abandoned? What if by trying to go to his board and go him he hurts himself permanently? All these ideas run by in his head over and over again, playing on loop. He's barely clinging onto hope of getting out of here, and beginning to fall into despair... and then slowly, out the corner of his eye, notices a single person walking past.

"H-Hey!" He grits out, shouting as loud as he can. The person in question turns around to him and walks over to him. Reki swears he's never seen someone so pretty - beautiful blue hair, eyes like an ocean. 

"What do you need? Are you okay?" Mr. Handsome asks, crouching down with worry in his eyes. Reki shakes his head and points to his leg.

"It's broken. Broke it skating. Can... can you help me get to the hospital?" His voice breaks somewhere along the line - he seems so vulnerable right now. The stranger nods and helps him up. Reki hisses at the pain, finding it hard to breathe against the agony going on in his leg but using the bluehaired man as a crutch, he hops up eventually and leans against the railing. "My bag is there," He points to the left, "And my skateboard is over to the right. Could... could you get them?"

"Sure, sure." He says, grabbing the bag and then holding his board - surprisingly correctly. Reki cracks a small grin at this.

"Hey, you're not mall grabbing. Props to you, random nice stranger."

"My name is Langa. What's yours?" He asks and Reki's eyebrows furrow slightly. The first three letters of his soulmates name randomly come into his head. He'd never actually asked for his name since then, he'd completely forgot. They didn't actually talk to eachother much.

Reki shakes his thoughts out of his head. Not right now! "Reki. Thanks for helping me. I probably couldn't get outta there by myself." He says, slightly embarrassed. 

"It's no problem." Langa mutters. Reki grabs onto Langa's shoulder and the two go over to the sidewalk. Langa calls for a taxi.

It's pretty awkward between the two. Reki clears his throat and decides to ask. "Hey, why'd ya help me?"

"I don't really know... I just wanted to." Langa replies, tapping his foot. Reki raises a eyebrow to this but doesn't question it, he can see the taxi approach the pair from the background. The boys hop in, Langa asking the driver to go to the nearest hospital. Reki yawns, subconsciously leaning further and further into the other boys shoulder and before he knows it, he falls asleep - exhausted from skating too much and breaking his leg. Langa sighs softly at this and closes his eyes. The hospital was a little over half an hour away. It wouldn't hurt to fall asleep for a short while, right?

~

"We're here." The drivers voice rings out in the car. Langa's eyes snap open. He thanks him and taps on Reki's shoulder.

"Uhm, Reki, we're here." Langa murmurs, shaking him gently to try and not disturb his leg. Reki's eyes slowly open, adjusting to the light around him. 

"Mmm... okay..." He yawns, sitting up slightly and then hissing at the pain of putting pressure on his leg. He passes Langa the money to pay and Langa relays it back to the driver. Langa climbs out of the car, passing his hand to Reki to help him out. Using Langa as support, Reki steadily hops towards the doors of the hospital and asks for an x-ray as soon as they can. The office lady smiles at him politely and writes him down, saying they can take him in ten minutes.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the two sit down as close to the x-ray room as they can. Reki pulls out his phone and quickly texts his mom, saying that he'll be a little later today.

"Reki? Reki Kyan?" A voice announces and Reki perks up, looking for whoever said his name. It turns out to be right next to him. He gets up and hops into the room, knowing what the result will be.

And Reki returns an hour later with a red cast, crutches and a wonky smile on his face. But to his dismay, Langa's already gone - there's simply a small post it note on his chair.

'Sorry I had to go, emergency.'

Reki sighs. Langa was nice but nice things can't last forever. He calls his mom to pick him up and they drive home under the night sky, his mother scolding him for hurting himself again. Of course, he doesn't tell her that without Langa's help, he would still be sitting right there, probably freezing.

-: ✧ :-

Langa sighs, writing on his hand: 'I think I just saved someone.' He doesn't know why he's writing to his soulmate, they barely talk, but for some reason he feels oddly obligated to. 

It rubs off before his soulmate sees it.

-: ✧ :-

Reki stares up at the building, seemingly humongous, right above him. The greenery around him is bright, flowers popping up. He's finally going to a new school - his mom decided that since he was so lonely and friendless at his old one, he'd have to move, luckily at the start of a new year. It's been a year since he broke his leg and now that he's older and hasn't had a bad injury since then. his mother has given him more freedom as promised. 

His new uniform is so much more uncomfortable then his older one, the former being more flexible and free whereas this one was more restricting. Reki was used to wearing loose hoodies so this was a change from him.

The flurry of people chatting slightly overwhelms him, but he's determined with his skateboard on his back and enters the school, head held up high. 

He's in lesson when he notices the ink steadily appearing on his hand.

 _'R u awake? All my friends are asleep + the jetlag is getting 2 me.'_ It reads. Reki cocks an eyebrow at this but scribbles out a response nonetheless.

_'Yeah. Did u fly?'_

_'Yea, I'm in Japan now.'_ Reki's heart beats faster. Japan? Maybe he was close to Okinawa.

 _'Where?'_ He quickly writes, desperate for a response.

 _'Okinawa. Why?'_ Is what comes back. Reki's face lights up in delight at the answer.

_'I live in Okinawa.'_

_'Woah.'_ His soulmate replies. Reki's attention is drawn from his hand as he hears the bell ring. Shit. He'd have to do this later.

-: ✧ :-

"Apparently my soulmate lives here." 

"Really?"

"Mh. I don't know what to reply to them."

"You don't have to reply."

"Okay."

-: ✧ :-

"I'm gonna take back the fact that you dissed my skating, Shadow!" Reki promises, as he watches Shadow pull a death motion by sticking his tongue out and running his thumb across his neck. As the countdown begins, Reki grins, pushing himself off into the distance. The thrill of skating was incredible.

They both turn the corner quickly, Shadow ahead of him.  
"Hey! You're never gonna catch upto me like that! C'mon, bring it, why don't ya?" He yells, turning around on his board, beckoning Reki to come to him.

"Wha... Dammit! He's thinking nothing of me!" Reki thinks. "A little more... just a little more." He places his hand on the ground, turning around as fast as he can. He's confident that he's ahead of Shadow. But then, his eyes go wide as the skater with the painted face yells out.

"Psyche! Eat this..." He smirks, bombs in hand. "Haemanthus Bomb!" 

The explosives pop under his board and blow up, the crackling explosion ringing in his ears. Reki stumbles under the explosives, trying his best to keep balance but he ends up falling straight past a crowd of bystanders and into the bush.

The people burst out into hysterics, praising Shadow for all his underhanded methods of winning S. He puts his fingers up in his signature move, yelling out in victory.

-: ✧ :-

There's a new kid apparently. Reki being Reki, didn't particularly care too much about who was in his class - he'd rather pay attention to how to do a new skate trick, even at 17 he was obsessed with the dangerous sport. Fingerboard in hand, drives it across his desk idly, waiting for this supposed new person to come in. Maybe they'd skate with him.

The teacher hushes everyone down, beckoning the student to come in and Reki swears he's seen that face before however he just can't place where.

"Introducing our new transfer student..." The teacher announces but Reki simply stares at his notes about his previous race with shadow.

_A foreigner?_  
_He's cute...._  
_He's tall!_

The girls in the back whisper excitedly - they did this for everyone. Reki rolls his eyes slightly, glaring at his notes and thinking about a stratergy. He rubs his neck after not being able to think of anything.

"Please introduce yourself." The teacher asks, lowering his hand.

"Uh... I'm Langa Hasegawa." The bluehaired boy says, looking like he doesn't want to introduce himself atall.

"Is that all?" 

"Eh? Well... I came here from Canada." Langa continues, suppressing an eye roll at the need of so much information. In Canada, it was way different.

"...Is that all?"

"Is it bad?" 

"It's not bad, per se..." The teacher cringes, letting him go to his seat. Reki _swears_ that he's heard that name before. He's definitely heard it but he just can't figure out where! He sighs, giving up. Long term memory was never his best point. Reki looks up at the boy next to him. He looks good. Wait. 

_He looks good?_

-: ✧ :-

_'Average age to find your soulmate'_

_'18-25'_

_'How to talk to your soulmate'_

_'Find things you're both interested in.'_

_'Is it weird to barely talk to your soulmate'_

_'It's normal but most people like talking to the one their supposed to be with.'_

_'What if you don't get on with your soulmate'_

_'You don't have to be with your soulmate. You can always be with others.'_

"I probably need to talk to them more - fuck."

-: ✧ :-

Reki's fallen off his board again. This time, he's placed his feet wrong but he shrugs it off. It happens. His skateboard rolls down the hill and he runs to catch upto it.

"Heyyy! Can you stop that?" He yells out. The person stops the board with his foot and picks it up.

"Skateboard...?" He murmurs, staring at the many scrapes from hard practice. Reki runs upto him, out of breathe and then realizes who it is.

"You saved my butt, transfer student!" He breathes out and takes the skateboard from out Langa's hand. "You don't remember me? I'm Reki Kyan! I'm in your class!"

Langa frowns slightly. "Oh... I'm sorry."

"Do you wanna skate?" Reki questions like he always does with new people even though most of the time, they decline his offer.

"Uhm... no thank you." Langa replies, shaking his head.

"You were totally looking at it, right?" Reki grins, raising his eyebrows in question at the bluehaired boy.

"Maybe."

"Have a go!" Reki thrusts his board towards Langa. He takes it skeptically. Langa places it down on the concrete, moving it up and down. Placing his other foot on it, he attempts to balance on it - promptly falling off backwards after three seconds of wobbling.

Reki bursts out laughing at this, "What's up with that? You haven't even moved a hair!"

"That... _thing_ isn't made for people to stand on!" He objects, glaring at where it rolled off to. Reki laughs a little more to this, wiping his eyes.

"Of course it is." He grabs the deck, beginning to roll, and starts dashing speedily towards Langa.

"Hold on-"

Langa looks above him where somehow, Reki had jumped over him. His eyes shine with amazement at the boy flying right above him and past with perfection. Just... how? "Woah."

"See?"

"How... How did you do that just now?" Langa immediately questions. Just how did Reki do that?

Reki smirks at this. "Practice. Hey, I work at a skate shop near here. If you like, I can pick out a beginners board for you."

Langa considers this for a second and then nods - maybe skating could be a little fun.

And neither of them realize just who they're talking to.

-: ✧ :-

After suddenly winning against Shadow, Reki learns that Langa is experienced in snowboarding back in Canada. Langa wants to feel the tingling sensations felt during the beef again and decides to learn skating from Reki and that's what they're doing right now. Reki's currently sat on the half pipe with his knee up, leaning on his hand while Langa is flat on the floor, practicing the first step on an ollie.

"Put your foot a little more to the left." Reki instructs. Langa follows him and slides his foot up again, the white mark of his trainer trailing up the board as he does so. His gloves on, he tries putting all the steps together and promptly fails. 

"Pfft!" Reki scoffs, leaning back in laughter. Langa pouts - it wasn't funny! He tries again and again and then finally-

"I did it! I did it, Reki!" He exclaims in delight, even though his board only slightly lifted up off the ground. Reki slides down the ramp, clapping.

"Ayee! You're gonna be awesome if you can progress this fast." He compliments, picking up his board.

Langa blushes slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks. Do you have any other tricks I can start to work on?" 

"Don't start working on another trick right now, keep trying to perfect your ollie. Unlike in snowboarding, it's alot more dangerous if you try to do a trick suddenly if you haven't practiced it alot." Reki explains, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh... okay. That's fine. Can I see the videos you took?" He asks and Reki nods. He sits down on his skateboard and Langa rolls over to him. Opening the gallery app, Reki loads up the video. He turns his phone to the side, him and Langa watching the clip closely. Reki doesn't miss how Langa's face lights up when he first lands the jump or how Reki immediately cheers out. Maybe Reki was a bit too enthusiastic but then again, this was his first friend who seemed to actually want to skate with him inside of just doing it because he asked them to.

Langa smiles at the small clip. "I'm gonna try and work on it at home. Hey, uh, what's your number? I can message you then and you can send the clips to me." He says, the last part slightly more quiet and withdrawn.

"Oh, sure. It's..." Reki repeats his number and passes his phone to Langa. His fingers linger slightly at the touch of his hand but Langa pulls away before he can properly think about it. Watching as Langa types his number into his phone, Reki sends him a smily face message. The notification pops up on Langa's screen and he grins.

Yeah, they'll be good friends.

Reki pauses for a moment and then opens his mouth like he's just remembered something - and he does.

"One second. I wanna write a note for later." Reki says, pulling out his pen and writing on his hand the day Langa did an ollie.

_'Ollie, 17/11/21'_

"What're you writing?" He questions, peering over his shoulder at the note. Reki just laughs.

"It's the day you did your ollie. My phone is dead, I'll add it to my notes later. I like recording all my new tricks so I might aswell keep track of yours too!" He explains, spinning the pen around his fingers expertly. Langa nods at this, if not confused but he goes along with it anyway. He stares down at his gloves - skating was so very like snowboarding yet so very different.

They both mount their respective boards and skate down off into the night sky - forgetting about trying to figure out where they've seen eachother before.


	2. No. 8 - Langa Hasegawa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reki comes to some realizations after many moments with Langa.

Tonight, Reki can't sleep. Maybe it's because he's so caught up in skateboarding with Langa that he's restless. Rolling around in his bed trying to get comfortable, he fails badly. The redhead picks up his phone and scrolls through TikTok - his page full of people doing skating tricks. As he's swiping through, his attention is drawn to this one video.

'How to find your soulmate: a guide!'  
'1) Communicate with them! Find out their name, where they live, meet up with them!  
2) Sometimes, you won't immediatly fall in love when you meet them. It takes some time.  
3) Make sure to be respectful to them - it's possible to change soulmates if it goes very bad.'

The video ends and Reki plays it again. He knows that he doesn't really care about all this soulmate stuff and that he'd much rather stick to skating but everyone has to find their soulmate eventually, right?

He leans over to the side to grab the closest pen he can find. The blue ink sinks into his skin as he writes.

_'Hi'_

Reki is left waiting a while for a response, while he waits he keeps scrolling through the video app.

 _'Hello'_ appears on his skin suddenly and he jolts right up, almost instantly writing a response. 

_'What r u doing rn? Im bored'_ He writes, clicking his tongue at how dry he's being but really, he just doesn't know what else to write.

 _'Watching videos'_ His soulmate replies. Reki wishes he could write more but then eventually, they'd run out of room on their skin.

_'What kind?'_

_'Skate videos'_ Reki quirks an eyebrow. He didn't know his soulmate liked skating. For one, they've got something in common now and second, this could lead to something way more.

Clicking his pen, Reki writes down his response. _'Oh cool, I skate too'_

_'Nice! How good r you?'_

_'Pretty good, I've been skating most of my life'_

_'Awesome, wha-"_ Comes a response but it abruptly stops. This has happened a few times - Reki wonders what happened on his soulmate's end this time. He thinks nothing of it but nonetheless, is happy to know his soulmate skates. And they're in Okinawa. Maybe Reki knows them.

Thoughts swirling through his head, Reki falls asleep.

-: ✧ :-

"Langa! Go to sleep. You know it's not good to stay up late." His mother says, opening his door. 

"Sorry mom." Langa yawns, dropping his pen on his floor. His mother doesn't notice and shuts his door. Smiling to himself about the revealation of his soulmate skating and being pretty damn good, it leaves him to fall asleep to the sound of his own heartbeat.

-: ✧ :-

Racing down the hill at top speeds. His tricks are smooth and natural - he's boardsliding down the corner of the S track towards the abandoned warehouse. He's determined to try a new trick this time: he's not up against someone super serious like Joe or Cherry, to be fair, he doesn't even know who he's racing against but their decent.

His hair is flowing through the wind - the adrelaine in his veins pumping his blood. He's just getting faster and faster, dodging stones and skating through the cheers of the crowd. He can hear how they're screaming his name, but theres one that sticks out. Langa. His voice is raw from cheering him and earlier, Miya, on, but nonetheless his support was neverending. He can feel his jacket on his back swish in the wind - he was a god, rolling through the gates of heaven like he owned the place.

And then he's in the abandoned factory, the eager lights flashing on him and the purple hues in his eyes. Oh, the thrill of skating illegally could never get old - the rush it gave him was addicting, the high he got one was something that'd never stop and leave Reki restless for the rest of the night. The scrap of the metal below his wheel screeches against him but all his attention is focused infront of him.

He's jumping - so free, so high, flying - he's landed it. The bystanders roar with praise at him. Yes, this is what he loved. He can even see Joe smiling and Cherry clapping at him. Out of the corner his eye, Miya's taking a video of him and Shadow is whistling. Reki's board slides easily across the finish line and he raises a fist in victory. Langa runs over to him and embraces him tightly.

"That... that was fucking brilliant, Reki!" The bluehaired boy shouts over the noise of the people. Reki grins at him, giving him a thumbs up.

He'd never change this - it was like cocaine but so much more addicting and so much more thrilling.

Langa pulls away from him as Cherry, Joe, Miya and Shadow approaching them.

"Woo, woo, nice job, Reki!" Miya grins, taking his hood down.

"I liked your skating. You seemed to enjoy it." Cherry comments idly, staring at Joe for some reason. Joe glares right back at him.

"Hey, stop staring at me." He says.

"I'm not." Cherry responds, getting increasingly more annoyed with him.

"Yes, you were!" Joe exclaims, pointing a finger at him.

"No, I wasn't!"

"You totally were!" Joe says, grabbing him by his shirt. Shadow leaves quickly, presumbly to get his truck.

"Carla, straight forward, 12 degrees." Joe yelps out in pain as the electronic skateboard hits his ankles. Cherry has an evil smirk on his face while Reki and Miya have burst out laughing. Langa has a small smile on his face and Shadow grins at them.

Joe rubs at his ankle. _'Your lucky I love you.'_

"What was that?" Cherry asks, his pink hair flowing back from his face.

"Hm? Nothing." Joe shoots back but Miya's snickers cause him to glare at the teen. He sticks out his tongue.

As they fight more, Shadow returns with his car. "Get in, then! I don't have all day!" Reki laughs faintly as he realizes that Shadow's typical face paint is peeling off. Miya climbs in, eager to get away from Cherry and Joe's antics and Langa follows shortly. Reki gets in after Langa and waves goodbye to the other two men. Miya's in the front, talking about some crazy trick with Shadow.

Langa yawns, somewhat leaning against Reki. Reki doesn't complain and drops his head onto Langa's, happy and content at where he is. His eyelids flutter shut and whats left is the moonlight above them and the small talk of Miya and Shadow in the front. What he doesn't notice is that Miya quickly snapped a photo of them and sent it to Cherry and Joe, laughing his ass off.

"Those two are so gay for eachother. They need to get together already, I swear they're soulmates." Miya whispers, his tone dangerously low.

"Wait, they're not already together?" Shadow questions.

"Sadly, no." Miya responds, huffing out a sigh. Reki had heard none of that small conversation and what followed.

-: ✧ :-

Oh my god. Langa can be so dense sometimes. How can he not tell that this random girl is about to confess to him? Reki facepalms, watching Langa from a distance being asked out. He moves closer in an attempt to listen in on their conversation.

"...eally like you, Langa. Do you want to go see a movie?" She asks, voice full of hopefullness.

"Um. Do I know you?" He says boredly. The girl saddens at this but keeps up her happy act.

"I'm in your class!"

"Okay." 

"Wh- you're so dry..." She hisses under her breathe but tries once more. "So, the movie? You can choose!"

"No thanks. Sorry." Langa says in typical Canadian fashion.

"Can... can you give me a reason?" She pleades. Langa sighs.

"Okay. Well, first, I don't know you. Second, I wouldn't like to date anyone at the moment, I'd like to focus on skating, sorry. Third, I'm not really interested in girls." He says like it was nothing. Reki's breathe hitches as he says this - he's not into girls? I mean, he doesn't really look straight, sure, but for him to openly admit it was pretty wild. Reki wasn't confident enough to really come out to anyone as bisexual - he knew he wouldn't really be judged since people don't actually care too much but he just wasn't open so much about his feelings to most people unless they got totally overwhelming. Was this good news? Why was it good news?

"...Third one I can take, I guess. But, y'know, they're right about you! You're only obsessed with skateboarding and Reki! He might aswell be your soulmate!" She huffs, storming off in anger. Langa scratches his head, muttering 'What did I do wrong?'

Reki watches, not daring to go any closer. He can see Langa standing there, confused for his life. He could not get any more stupid. Sighing, Reki watches as Langa stalks down the stairs, head low. Why was he so... angry? Angry about what? The girl confessing to him? Why would he be mad at that?

Maybe it was jealousy - he wanted Langa just to be his friend and to skate with him. Maybe it was because he's never gotten asked out before - everyone was either too focused on their soulmates or just didn't like Reki. Maybe its because he knows Langa openly doesn't like girls and Langa's his best friend and he likes everyone so would it be weird from now on? Thoughts swirling around his head, he realises. Perhaps he should start trying to find his soulmate - most people found them from their early adult years or earlier, rarely later then thirty. But why was he jealous of Langa of all people?

-: ✧ :-

They're back at the skatepark, both working on their own tricks and rolling up and down the park. Reki's practicing how fast he can do a kick turn at the highest point of the pipe and from the looks of it, Langa's ollie has gotten higher and better while moving quicker. Reki kicks his board up and grabs it, leaning against the railing at the top of the pipe.

"Oi, Langa, c'mere!" He yells. Langa's head snaps in his direction and he rolls over to him, jumping up.

"Yeah?"

"Uhm. I'm really, really proud of you." He says, rubbing his head. It was the truth - Reki was so very proud of where Langa had come and even with his experience in snowboarding, Reki just knows that Langa could go pro one day. He's a quick learner, always eager to try something new and skate whenever possible. Reki leans forward and pulls Langa into a hug, patting his back. Langa freezes up slightly at the affection but sinks into his arms nonetheless, hugging him back.

"My dad used to say that to me." He murmurs into Reki's shoulder. Reki's eyes widen slightly, worrying that he hit a weak spot and has just made Langa's mood falter. Reki swallows.

"I think he'd be proud of you - look how far you've come." He whispers carefully, running his head through Langa's hair once. Langa doesn't think much of it and nods slightly, pulling away. Reki sinks when the warmth of the Canadian leaves him - it's kind of ironic, he's a warm Canadian but he guesses that to make up for all that snow, they've gotta be pretty warm. Reki pats his shoulder, grinning.

"Let's see your progress then." Reki says. Langa nods, mounting his board and speedily making his way down the ramp. He kickturns when he reaches the other side and begins to go towards the rail. Instead of doing a railslide like Reki initally thought, he ollies over it, smiling. He looks so happy.

"Woo! That was pretty high!" Reki yells, taking a seat. Langa's rocking side to side on the pipe and enters the bowl. He's gotten so good in such a small amount of time, it's honestly insane to think he's this amazing with so little time to practice. 

"I've been working on it!" Langa exclaims, running a hand through his hair as he dismounts. He glances at the marks on the back of his board and sighs - it was inevitable to get them but he wanted to keep his design clean longer. Reki runs over to him and puts a arm around his neck, pulling him close and wolf whistling.

"You're gonna be _fucking epic!_ " Reki says. He can smell Langa's shampoo - was that vanilla? - and the softness of his hair. He finds himself loving the scent. Langa weakly pulls away and reaches down to the floor to take a drink. "Y'know, what if like, everyone in the world skated."

Huh. Random but good conversation starter.

"I mean, then it would be too normal and probably not as fun." Langa simply states, gulping down his water.

Reki hums, crossing his legs. "Yeah but then I wouldn't get dirty looks from all those old people." He wrinkles his nose which Langa spits his some of his drink out in an attempt to snort. "You've got a point though..."

"I know I do. Imagine everyone riding a bike - the chaos..." 

Reki looks up. "Ohhh..... I really don't think these things through."

"Honestly, not really, Reki." Langa admits, checking his phone for the time.

"I'm blaming all my problems on the Dark Reunion."

"Huh?"

"What?"

-: ✧ :-

"Hey, Reki, why'd she ask me out?" Langa states one day, emphasising the me. Reki chokes on his sandwich, rubbing his mouth and raising an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"The girl who asked me out like... a week ago. Why me?" Reki had forgotten that Langa had told him everything afterwards even though he had heard it for himself - not that Langa knew that.

"Well.. y'know, you're, uh-" Reki begins, "y'know, pretty." Why was it so awkward to say that? It's easy to notice the blush appearing on Langa's pale skin. Reki blushes slightly - did he say something wrong? He clears his throat and continues as Langa hasn't said anything. "And, uhm, you're really nice. Plus, you're pretty smart, and-"

"Really?" He exclaims lowly, moving a strand of blue hair from out his eye. Reki slowly nods, raising an eyebrow. Langa sits back and breathes in a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. I thought it was a prank."

Reki bursts out laughing. After his fit of giggles, he wipes his eye from laughter. "Pfft- dude, you- youvv thought it was a prank? That's so... you!" And with that, Reki can't contain his laughter and rolls back, covering his smile with his hand. Langa swats his hand away, holding it.

"Don't cover your smile. It's pretty."

Reki snorts in embarassment, the feeling of electricity going through his veins and his heart racing faster. He can only try to look away otherwise he'd basically be looking directly into Langa's eyes.

"U-uhm. Thanks. Your smile is pretty too." Reki murmurs, feeling the way Langa's thumb briefly brushes over his knuckle. He looks up - fuck looking down - and Langa's eyes are so surreal. They're the blue sky brushing over his skin, they look like that small sapphire necklace he owns (Reki will never look at it the same). It reminds him of the aquamarine shades of the ocean waves, the shine in his eyes while he stares is like the foam and the back of Langa's own board. It's not a sad blue, it's a calm one like Langa has all the knowledge in the world at his very own hands.

He's getting sucked further and further into this daydream - it doesn't help that Langa keeps running his thumb gently across the back of his palm. He's so lost in his thoughts, he doesn't notice Langa staring right back into his own honey-coloured pupils.

And then it's ruined. The loud echo of the bell rings through his ears and he snaps out of his gaze. He can feel Langa retracting his hand quickly, coming to realize what they'd just been doing. He brushes off his uniform and quickly grabs Reki's arm, dragging him along to class without saying a word. Reki doesn't object - he has no reason to.

What was that? And why'd he like it?

-: ✧ :-

Reki and Langa are at S - watching Cherry and Joe have one of their arguments again. Even over the sound of wheels and chatter, the two males are always the loudest. Reki doesn't even know what they're fighting about this time, he's hyperfocused on that one girl who keeps staring at Langa.

Langa doesn't seem to notice, he's watching Miya do a flip and then attempting to copy it. As Reki's watching her, she walks over to Langa confident in her step.

"Hey, Snow, do you-" She begins but she's interrupted.

"Langaaa! C'mere, I gotta show you something." Reki exclaims quickly, barging into their conversation. Reki doesn't know why he doesn't want her talking to him - he thinks its because if she takes Langa away from him, he'll have no best friend to skate with. She huffs and tries to talk again but Langa turns to Reki instead and nods. Reki grabs his hand and drags him away from her, Miya cackling as the two go away.

"What do you need to show me, Reki?" Out of the corner of his eye, Reki can see the girl going back to her friends defeated.

"Um. I need your opinion on this new trick I've been learning, does it look good?" He asks, coming up with something off the top of his head. To be honest, he's been trying to learn to hardflip for a while. Letting go of the bluehaired boy's hand, he grabs his board and attemps the trick - doing it successfully. He grins, not missing the way Langa looks super impressed with him.

"Woah... yeah, it looks really good. How long did it take you to learn that?" Langa compliments, a small smile present on his face.

"Uhm... probably around two months. I've been practicing for ages. You're like, a good luck charm or something, that was the first time I properly landed it."

Langa blushes slightly at this. Reki melts slightly - Langa looks so good flustered for some weird reason. "Thanks. Miya's trying to teach me to do a popshovit -I think I'm doing pretty well so far." He explains, glancing at Miya. Reki nods in approval. "I wonder what that girl wanted."

Reki internally cringes at this, sagging his shoulders. "Not sure. Probably something stupid, _Snow_."

"Hey, don't call me Snow. I like it when you say my name."

"H-huh?" Reki squeaks out like a scared animal. Langa stares at him, confused at why he's so shocked. "Okay. Langa."

Langa looks satisified with that response and walks back off to Miya. Reki's heart is beating in his ears, still in a state of shock. He stands there, frozen, for a while until he snaps out of his thoughts as he sees Shadow approaching him, asking for a friendly beef. He accepts, eager to get his mind off Langa. Now, he's mounting his board and sliding down the hill.

-: ✧ :-

Oh shit. Reki's so dumb. He likes Langa. He likes him, he likes him, he likes him-

How could he not notice? That's why he always looked at Langa like he was a god. Why he admired every little thing he did. Why he tried to touch him whenever possible. Why he did everything with Langa. Why he was so jealous when he was asked out.

Reki flops on his bed, stuffing his head in his pillow in attempt to try and diffuse his heart from going too fast. He groans, turning over and staring up at his ceiling - plastered with all of his past decks that didn't break.

Putting a hand upto his forehead dramatically, he sighs deeply. How can he ever face Langa again now that he's realized this? It doesn't help that he _knows_ Langa is into guys, so he's thinking way more about this for no reason.

But Langa is just so pretty and amazing at everything he does and he's so cool and he's so nice and he's so smart and he's so beautiful and he's so talented and he's so dorky and- just, fucking everything. It's overwhelming just how incredible Langa is compared to the others - he's just so... Langa.

He inhales deeply and pulls up his phone - scrolling through his recent videos. Reki stops at the first one of Langa skating for the first time - when he bought him his first board. He softly smiles at the video where Langa looks so very happy and he himself looks so excited to finally teach someone to skate.

Flicking to the next one, he's grinning like an idiot at the recording of Langa laughing. It's not a full-out cackle like Reki usually does, nor just a small scoff, it's a quiet laugh which Reki swears he cannot fall any deeper in love with. And then Langa says his name and Reki replays that part over and over again - every time making his breath hitch.

An hour later, he's gone through them all and it feels like a surreal experience now that he's realized his feelings towards the bluehaired boy. Luckily, Langa being as dense as he was, probably wouldn't notice how weird Reki would act the next time they met up.

Reki groans to himself, running his hand through his hair. He reaches across his bed to find a pillow - but he ends up cuddling the pillow in his sleep, pretending it's Langa. Damn, he was down **bad.**

**Author's Note:**

> You've probably already noticed a reference. There is gonna be alot of them, trust me. I'm a sucker for references and all things soft. Updates will come out every 2-4 days depending on how much I write! I'm literally obsessed with Renga.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you can! It really boosts my motivation :))


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